Today I’m going to talk about this board and what I think about it. It is used to stretch watercolor paper. I received this as a Christmas present. But it was purchased for me at http://www.dickblick.com . My first thoughts upon opening this was, “Damn this thing is light.” Its basically just a beefed up foam core board. I have the larger size 24×32 because I like to paint on the Arches 140# cold press rough/smooth paper and i get the 22×30 size. The boards large size leaves room for the gum tape I use to secure the paper while it drys. (I might post a how to stretch watercolor paper later.) The board is right at a half an inch thick. I have stretched five sheets so far and it keeps them very flat. There is a slight bowing when the paper is drying, but when completely dry its flat. The board is waterproof and is reusable. Over all I really like this board. I am finding out that I would like to get a few more, because it take 24 hours for the paper to dry and sometimes an idea can’t wait that long. Overall I recommend it. Its much better than plywood
Bobby,

The weather today was pretty good, so I decided to take my new camera out for a spin. The Canon XSI is my first DSLR camera. I absolutely love it. Anyway I wanted to take some black and white photos today and here are the best of the bunch. These are unedited black and whites from the camera.
Click on the photo to see the entire image.

I missed yesterday’s post so today I will post 2 works of art. Both from the same artist, he is one of my favorites. The artist today is Leonardo Di Vinci. I have always loved his work, both artwork and his inventions. I can’t really say much about his work because I just get this dumb look on my face, sorta like a baby that just went in his diaper. I begin to sputter sounds like, “duh.. buu… frrr.r..aaaa.” I could stare at his figure drawings for weeks and weeks. I’m not going to talk about each piece, I’m just going to let them stand on their own.
This is his later in life self portrait.

Not really sure what it is called, from what I can find “Study of Five Grotesque Heads”
And to make him even more bad ass he was a Ninja Turtle as well!
Rock on Leonardo!

I just discovered this not-so recent Onion article that both made me laugh and die a little on the inside naturally I had to share.

“At first it just looked like a picture of a bunch of lily pads, but then I started scraping at it with my pocket knife and the whole painting just sort of spoke to me,” Schmidt said. “For the first time, I finally understand what Monet was trying to get across in her work.”

I’m pretty sure if this actually happened I would go postal.
Support your museums. The Crocker doesn’t count.

Today I found a stunning acrylic painting of landscape. This is a great piece. The colors are just beautiful. They are saturated and healthy. This looks almost to good, almost a photo. “Woodland Sunset” by Christopher Leeper. I feel like I can walk right into it, pop up a tent and go camping. There is a special place in my heart for great detail and near photorealistic. This painting puts a smile on my face. There is such depth, and the subtle sunlight filtering through. The use of a limited palette helps make this a strong piece. So, my hats off to you Chris. You did a great job.

On this rainy Monday I feel like I need to just sit and relax. But it is school time so I can’t. Today I want to go back, way back. All the way back to 1665/66, with the work of Vermeer. I adore old paintings like this one. It like a time machine back to that time. I also love paintings of people painting or drawing. It adds more realism for me. People did not get all dressed up and pretty to get painted. This painting displays what people wore back then. I like how Vermeer used drapery to frame the picture on the left side. The folds in the fabric and the position of the painter direct your eye towards the woman. Actually looking at it a little closer, the tiles on the floor are also pointing at her. There a good use of perspective with the chair in the foreground the painters seat in the mid ground and the table in the far ground. I like this one a lot. It is very warm and inviting.
I wonder if I could rock those socks?
Bobby,

Well today is a rainy Sunday and I woke up early to get to the farmers market in downtown Sacramento. I love going to the market because there are so many colors and textures to look over. Also, Sunday is usually the day that I cook dinner, so I get fresh veggies to cook with. With all the fresh fruit and veggies I was looking at today I decided to find a piece of art that had a fresh and natural look. I love to look and try to discover how the Chinese artists paint their effortless looking landscapes. So today I picked a piece from artist Xiao Fan called Resting On The River. This is a watercolor. I found it at http://www.scrollsfromchina.com. This has a blend of light washes, dark washes, and dry brush used to create a foggy lake scene. And lately I have had a thing for putting birds in my pieces, (if you take a look at the header up top, I put some in there) and this piece has a few in it. I like the use of a limited color palette, something I need to work with more. I’ve been talking long enough, it’s time for me to wright a paper for class. SO have a great rest of the weekend and get ready for the week.
Bobby,